How does Tennessee Williams present masculinity in A Streetcar Named Desire?

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams presents a kind of ‘crisis of masculinity’ in working class post-WWII America. Through the characters of Stanley and Mitch (both war veterans), masculinity is presented as aggressive and insecure, and throughout the play, both characters attempt to reassert their hypermasculinity in response to challenges to their dominance. We can see this most clearly with the conflict between Stanley and Blanche, which is central to the play. Blanche labels Stanley ‘sub-human’, and ‘ape-like’, which is a direct critique of his masculinity. She also challenges his authority when she defends Stella at multiple points throughout the play. In response, Stanley retaliates with cruelty and violence, even resorting to sexual violence at the end of Scene 10. The play ends with Blanche at her weakest, being taken to hospital, and so Stanley effectively ‘wins’, which is a metaphor for the death of the Southern femininity represented by Blanche’s character, and the triumph of hypermasculinity. In this way, Williams shows masculinity to be fiercely defensive and violent, in the wake of the brutalization of World War Two.